The dining room and bar are set up in the former home of The Catch.
Paradise Tavern, which took over The Catch at 766 Northlake Blvd. in North Palm Beach, is now open.
Co-owners Dan Newkirk and Cassidy Flannery, working since they signed a lease in June, opened Oct. 3 to serve friends and family.
“We had a great crowd,” Newkirk said. “It was all word of mouth.”
Many diners had come from their other bar, Hap & Hooch in Jupiter. “A lot of our customers up there live in North Palm Beach and Lake Park,” he said, and were eager for the opening.
It came down to permits and inspections, but they opened within their timeframe. This gives them time to tweak service and the menu before season, Newkirk said.
“We love this area. Everyone’s been really nice.”
They expanded and redrew the rooms for Paradise Tavern, creating the bar area up front on the west side, and setting up tables as the main dining area on the tiki-hut-covered patio overlooking the lake. The open-air deck will be accessible from a new side walkway, he said, “so families don’t have to walk through the bar if they don’t want to.”
They’re expecting a happy hour crowd, and have a menu set up for the 4-6 pm service they call “golden hour.” It includes $1 oysters, and a baked fish dip and cocktail specials.
A full bar is set up, but there’s no craft beer on tap. “There are dedicated places for it. We’re into craft cocktails and traditional drinks. We have beer – it’s all bottled, ice cold, mostly domestic,” he said.
The bar area, designed in retro primary colors with Old Florida and surf scenes on walls, features high-tops and barstool seating, along with a new pool table where a small league may hold games.
An additional dining room and bar on the east side is called the Bait Shop and will be used for private events and weekend brunch.
“We’ll do brunch as soon as we have dinner dialed in,” Newkirk said. “We’re constantly tweaking the menu.”
They’ve brought their dry-rub chicken wings, and a version of their popular smash burger, dubbed Paradise burger, from Hap & Hooch, but Newkirk and Cassidy provided only minimal guidance for chef Isael “Izzy” Alvarez to create a full menu here. Along with foods inspired by tropical islands globally are several seafood offerings, pork chops, pork belly sliders and salads.
Among the dishes they’re predicting as winners are shrimp “corn dogs,” a take on the popular fair food. The shrimp “dumplings” flavored with lemongrass and ginger are chopped and battered then skewered and deep-fried. A sweet/savory okonomiyaki sauce and Kewpie mayo drizzle are accompaniments.
Only three TVs sit above the bar, and none showing games just now. “We don’t want to be a sports bar,” he said. “There are plenty of those around. We want people to come in and talk to each other, be social. A neighborhood place.”
Besides, Newkirk said, they realized some people were alienated when they tried to be a Green Bay Packers bar at Hap & Hooch. The business partners are from Wisconsin. “Yeah. That didn’t go so well.”
Catering is also going to be a part of Paradise Tavern, as are private events. Parking is by valet.
In the future, boats will be able to dock along the deck, but Newkirk said it will require more permits and some construction.
Now, during its opening month, it’s all a learning curve, he said, with menu and decor and service adjustments.
Paradise Tavern is open Wednesdays through Sundays for now, for “golden hour,” 4-6 pm, and the bar and dinner, 4 pm to midnight. Brunch will be served soon, from 11 am to 3 pm Saturdays and Sundays. No reservations.
“We’ll serve food till 11:55. We are not going to be that restaurant that says we’re open late and then closes the kitchen at 10 o’clock,” Newkirk said. “There’s a last call at the bar, but you can order food up until close and we’ll serve you. That’s who we are. It’s all about the hospitality.”